


A Lying Witch and a Demon King

by Halloweenlord



Series: King Noceda AU [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe- Adopted siblings, Angst with a Happy Ending, Autistic Luz Noceda, Camilia tries to be a good parent, I wish I was kidding, King 'tries' to be a good brother, King and Luz centric, king loves knives, seriously the only reason he hasn't killed someone is because Luz tells him he can't, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26926570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halloweenlord/pseuds/Halloweenlord
Summary: After a book report- among other things- has Luz Noceda sent off to a summer camp she really doesn't want to go to. (three months without her brother? Neither of them would be able to survive it.)Thankfully a miracle arrives via owl and sends the two on an adventure with a mysterious witch, King's backstory- quit bugging me about it Lu- and... whatever the owl on the door isSummer just got a lot more exciting
Relationships: Camilia Noceda & Luz Noceda, King & Camilia Noceda & Luz Noceda, King & Luz Noceda
Series: King Noceda AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929709
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	A Lying Witch and a Demon King

“Foolish mortals!” Luz Noceda rasped, waving her handcrafted Mr. Blederman figure around as it chased the finger puppets she was wearing on her other hand. As per how the book described it, Mr. Blenderman was a tall, gangly thing, wearing a tattered trench coat as it leered with a too big of a smile, filled to the brim with misshapen teeth. A wide dusty brown cap sat on a tangled knot of greying black hair.

“You dare enter my domain, now begone.” She twisted Mr. Blenderman, mimicking how he clawed at Eli Bergenham, ripping the poor boy’s face off as his friends- if you could call the crew of backstabbing liars and cheats he hung out with friends- watched in horror.

“And that’s the end!” Luz proclaimed, shifting her gaze from her principal and her mother. The fourteen-year-old girl was sitting cross-legged in the chair, her oversized bomber jacket tied around her hips as she idly kicked her white slip-on shoes back and forth. The smile soon faded, seeing her Mamí’s concerned look and Principal Hal’s look of annoyance. 

“The end of what?” Her mother asked. Innocent enough of a question, but she said it so gingerly as if she was afraid of the answer. Luz could barely look her in her hazel eyes. Hal nodded, his eyebrows still furrowed even after Camilia had joined the meeting. 

“... my book report,” Luz mumbled, looking away from the two adults. “Miss Beck said she didn’t want me going on and on about Azura, so,” she lifted the figure and the puppets. “ _ Thing _ was the next best, well, thing.” Luz chuckled, storing that particular pun for review from King. “If you ask me, I knocked it out of the park.”

Her mother still looked confused, so Luz went on, her voice getting higher and faster as she info dumped as hard as she could. 

“See, we were learning about symbolism in English class and I figured with all the occult stuff going on in  _ Thing,  _ I could, well, maybe tie that in?” It was a flimsy reason at best, but seeing how she went all out- really it was a shame that she couldn’t wear her Blenderman costume, poor King had spent so much time on it- including a slide show filled with various symbols that appeared in the book and the historical nature behind every one of them.

It was actually kinda interesting, both she and King had a lot of fun with it, and, at the end of the day, wasn’t that the whole point?

“Your book report is one of the reasons why you’re in here, The other is because of this,” Hal said, at last, gesturing at the leather-bound binder that was currently laying open on his desk. The Grim Grimoire, a guide to all things demonic, infernal, and, well, not for the faint of heart. “I’m concerned, Luz. You have this great big imagination.”

Two thoughts went through Luz’s head, _Was he really going to say what Luz thought he was gonna say?_ And _Wait, what?_ The Grimoire was why she was here and not because she traumatized her class.

“But you can’t separate it from reality.” 

It felt like a punch to the gut. 

“It’s like you legitimately believe all of this,” He rapped a knuckle against the leather. Luz winced. It had taken most of her allowance to buy a leather binding that could fit a binder, and her principal was ruining it. “It’s beginning to concern your teachers too.” He turned to her mother, whose hands were folded in front of her. 

There was a crease in her brow, and she looked upset(?) “They say that Luz spends most of her time writing in this, and when asked about it,” he looked back towards Luz. “She claimed that she and her brother worked on it together.”

_ Oof. _ Luz thought, heat rising in her cheeks as she scratched the back of her short cut hair. That was honestly an accident, she was so absorbed in finishing up Smoochie-Pie the Cutie Baby and, well, you really didn’t bother someone who was jamming to AJR while trying to describe how a ten-foot-tall walking fish monster could eviscerate someone. (Read: you really couldn’t and Luz didn’t sleep at all that night. Who knew you could torture someone with  _ fishhooks and worms? _ ) Plus, she was a little sleep deprived from binge reading a really fluffy Azura fic the night before.

“Brother? I’m fairly certain Luz doesn’t have a brother.” Weird, her Mamí was chucking? ¨After all, I’m sure I would have noticed.” 

Okay, now Luz was even more confused. “Excuse me?” She blurted, cause even if her Mamí raised her to be polite, King had taught her to get things done. “But I thought I was here cause of the stuffed raccoon corpse?”

It occurred to Luz that, maybe listening to King’s advice and doing her report on her older brother’s favorite book instead of a book that y'know, had less blood, gore, and mutilated animal corpses. 

“Mija, you do remember that Mr. Hal,” she gestured to him. ¨Asked me to come in today. I texted you about this earlier.” 

“And the stunt you pulled with that isn’t helping matters. I have five kids in the guidance counselor's office because you decided to do a project on a book that’s been banned for almost a decade.”

Oh. Right. Now she remembered, she was called into the office after she had rigged the racoon to swing at the front row of student’s, only for Mr. Hal to ask why she had finger puppets and a doll. Luz, who had to deal with the general apathy from the kids in her English class, was ecstatic that she was able to present, sure it was a bit lackliser, but she was able to get through the first arc of the story. Which was too bad, arc two and the climax were really well put together.

“Hah, sorry, Mom.” She made a circling motion with her finger as she pointed it at her head. “I was a lil’ bit scatterbrained.”

It was true, King had even used her moments when she was a scatterbrained mess as the basis of his nickname for her, Lightbulb, something that shone bright but occasionally went dim. 

Her Mamá rolled her eyes good-naturedly, before kneeling to look her in the eyes. “Quieres ir a sentarte en el auto? Puedo hablar con el Sr. Hal.” Her mother turned to said principal. “I’m sure that this is just a misunderstanding, and I’ll clear it all up.”

Luz nodded, a little uncertain, but her eyes musta flicked over to the Grimoire, cause her mom smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it back. I know how important that is to you.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Principal Hal?” From in front of Luz, her mom must have made a face, since Hal nodded uneasily and gestured for Luz to leave.

Luz smiled, scrambling to grab her sticker-covered bag before getting the heck outta Dodge. It was a lesson the Noceda siblings had learned only once. Mamí didn’t get angry easy, but when she did, whoof, there was a tongue lashing just waiting to happen.

She was glad she managed to close the door as she hustled out of the building. Not running, but moving quick enough that maybe,  _ maybe _ , she wouldn’t have to deal with the Trio- 

“Oh look, it's the Luz-er.” Came a nasally voice from behind her. Luz pretended not to hear it, opting to keep walking. She could see the entrance up ahead, past the foyer. She was in the clear, only for Heather Wilson to ‘accidentally’ step in front of her, a tray of food held loosely in one hand, just waiting to spill onto someone.

“Oops,” She sang, a fake smile plastered across her way too makeup heavy face. “Didn’t see you there.”

That was a lie, but right now, Luz didn’t care. Well, strike that, she didn’t care, but if King saw her shirt, coupled with her coming home from school early, well, he would lose it. As in, this time he would try to rip someone’s jugular out. 

Luz sighed, trying not to let the feeling of the milk and meatloaf slurry get to her. “Seriously?” She asked, resting a hand on her hip, giving Heather an unimpressed look, ignoring the sudden spike in her heartbeat. There were two sets of giggles from behind her.  _ Please, no.  _ Luz pleaded. She could deal with Heather, but the other two-thirds of the trio? 

“What did you do this time?” Audrey asked, swinging her hips as she stepped in front of Luz, her twin sister Bethany joining her from Luz’s left. The red-headed twins both smirked at Luz, looking at her soaked purple hoodie like she was some animal on display.

Her life was literally a high school sitcom right now and Luz wasn’t having it. So, she did the only reasonable thing and shoved past the Trio, ignoring their calls of ‘how she spent so much time with her dog, she called it her brother. _ ’ _

Luz huffed as she stomped out, tears pricking from her eyes. Today was going horribly, and she only had a week left until summer vacation started. 

She slumped against her mom’s old Buggy, before sliding to the ground. Ugh, she was tired of being treated like a freak, for twelve years it had been her Mamí, her, and King, and yeah, maybe King wasn’t the best influence, and yeah Luz tended to spend most of her time in her own head, but that didn’t make her weird.

Her sniffles were very rudely interrupted by a low thrum coming from her pocket. She sighed and pulled out her phone, her devil phone case grinning in the light, she quickly unlocked it, and a picture of her and King playing Extinction Forever. 

She swiped up and put it to her ear. The only person who had her number was her ex-friend back in 6th grade and King, who just called from the house phone.

“Hey Lu,” King said, his high pitched, slightly childish voice helping to settle Luz’s frazzled nerves. “Just callin’ to see how your report went, hope you managed to scare a couple of kids with that raccoon!” He laughed and in the background, Luz could hear the faint screams of what was probably King’s all-time favorite movie, Slaughter House. 

Luz opted not to say anything, all she wanted now was just have her older brother ramble on and on about how proud he would- and how grossed out anyone got. 

And of course, it had to go wrong.

“Lu?” King asked, only now realizing that she hasn’t said anything for almost a minute. “Who do I have to kill?” The worst part of that last bit was King said it with complete seriousness. 

Luz gave a bitter laugh, resting her head on the car door. “No one and yet… everyone.”

“Hmm, can ya narrow it down? I still need to finish the Puppeteer Demon,” there was a crunch as Luz pulled the phone away, wincing at the sudden noise. “Can you believe I ran outta ink? I mean it’s fine. cause I needed to order a new set anyways. Remind me to pay you back.” There was a pause before there was a hollow thunk. “Right, this is about you, not me.”

Luz sniffed and wiped her nose, a sad smile on her face. “You’re okay, K.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I just wanna take a nap.”

“Consider it done!” There was the sound of nails clicking against the floor as King ran off. Luz waited patiently for King to realize the old house phone couldn’t be brought along. 

After a good ten seconds, King’s returned. “I’m back. Sorry.” There was an awkward cough before he continued. “I’m, uh, gonna go fluff your pillow and get a new sheet on.”

“King, you don’t have to-” Luz started.

“I do want to Lu,” King interrupted. “It ain’t fair you had a bad day, and me, the King of Demons, treats his subjects fairly!”

“But I’m not your subject.” Luz pointed out, falling back into the familiar rhythm of the conversation. “You added me to the royal family. Aren’t I Princess Luz the Human of Demons?”

King huffed, Luz, giggling at her brother’s childish tantrum. “Keep going on like that and I won’t let you in on the Wisp O’ Will!”

“And what would you leave me?”

There was a pause before King muttered something that alarmingly sounded like ‘chainsaw.’

“King,” Luz warned really not wanting to hear what she thought she heard. “Please tell me you didn’t steal a chainsaw?”

“Is it really stealing if you never returned it? It was a leftover from last Halloween.” He trailed off guiltily, Luz slowly closing her eyes, not sure if she should laugh or wait until she and her mom got home. “Do I really have to get rid of it?”

“Yes,” Luz stressed. “King, I swear, you do this every year!”

“The machete was an accident!”

“How do you accidentally steal a  _ machete _ ?”

“I didn’t mean to steal it! Who leaves a machete in their yard? A slasher villain, that’s who!”

The argument was stupid, Luz knew that, but if it meant Luz didn’t need to tell King how bad today had been, well, she would start one about how he shed his fur all over their room. 

“I mean, it’s a rusty sword thing, who leaves that out? I mean really, at least you could’ve let me use it once.” King sighed. “Well, if you’re sure you're good, I’ll get back to my marathon.” He gave a pleased hum. “Murder Inc is getting good this season.” 

“King, wait,” Luz said, feeling that maybe, her brother could do just one small thing. “Could you, y’know,” she took a deep breath. “Sync up my playlist?”

“Fanfiction reading, Grimoire writing, or heavy metal?”

“Heavy metal is your playlist K. Sync up, Hello Darkness.”

“That bad?”

“Eh,” Luz shrugged, feeling the teensiest bit better. “Not that bad, but maybe get some snacks? Please?”

“Sure thing Lu.” King replied, before hanging up, right as Luz spotted her Mamí walking up to the car. Her hair was ruffled, her forehead creased, and she had the Grimoire held in her hands. She gave Luz an exhausted smile, but there was something sad behind it. Like she was told really bad news.

“Here you are Mija,” she said, bending down to hand her it. “Come on then, I need to get back to work.”

Luz nodded, hugging the Grimoire tight against her. No offense to her Mamí, but sometimes she just didn’t understand why Luz didn’t want to talk when she was feeling bad. 

She gave Luz a sympathetic look, as she settled into her seat. She really wanted to take a nap, and the car seat was warm from sitting in the Texas summer heat. I mean, it was a little uncomfortably hot, but it still felt good.

Luz sighed contentedly, reclining in her seat. 

“Intenta no quedarte mija dormido, no estamos tan lejos de la casa.” Her mother warned, gently stroking Luz’s hair as she reversed 

“Meh.” Luz grunted, her eyes closed.

Her mother snorted, but let it go, for now at least. 

The drive home was quiet, which helped Luz’s slight headache.

Unfortunately, because life was fair like that, they arrived home sooner than Luz expected. As her mother pulled up by the curb, Luz- gently- kicked the door open, before slumping out of the car, feeling she was boneless. 

“I’ll see you tonight carino.” She paused as if she didn’t want to say anything else. “I have some… upsetting news I need to tell you.” She wet her lip, looking very uncomfortable, her mother said, Luz, looking back to see her mother close the passenger door before giving her nod as she drove off.

Like that wasn’t anxiety inducing. 

Luz groaned- again- as she trudged through the yard towards the cozy two story horse. The brick chimney where King loved to nap in during the winter. (For reasons she still didn’t really understand.)

The moment her hand reached out to twist the knob open, there was a flurry of movement from behind the window as the door creaked open. Luz looked down to see King opening the door, fidgeting with a stress ball. 

“Hey Lu,” He said, his tail wagging as he hugged her leg. “You feeling better?”

A small smile was on Luz’s face as she picked up her brother and squeezed him tight, feeling King’s claws comb through her hair. 

_ Hmmm _ , Luz hummed, liking how warm he felt. “Yeah, a little.” She fought back a yawn. “I’m gonna go lay down for a while, maybe finish reading that fic.”

“Nice,” King said, hopping down, swishing his tail as he tugged her leggings as he led Luz to her room. “I’m gonna grab some juice for you.”

“King,” Luz groaned as she walked into the room, flicking on the lights. Posters of various fantasy books she read plastered all over. She slumped onto the bed, staring into the eyes of her Azura bed sheet. “Don’t. I just wanna sleep.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” King said, poking Luz in the leg. “Nope. I’m calling my ‘big brother card’ for the week, and I am going to smother you.”

That was kinda fair, but now? Not really.

Luz huffed as she slipped into the bed, pulling out her headphones and her phone. “Fine, you do that. I’ll just be here, reading.”

King rolled his eyes and left, but not before King extended his tongue, which was a good foot long- the price of having a skull for a head and no lips- and gave her cheek a good lick. “Alright Lu, I’ll see ya when you wake up.”

King gave her one last hug before jumping off the bed and padded over to the door, shutting it with a soft slam. 

Luz smiled as she idly scrolled through her fanfiction library. Maybe it was the stress of the day, maybe it was because she actually finished the story, or maybe the soothing sounds of her Bad Day playlist was making her groggy, but whatever it was, Luz didn’t realize she had closed her eyes until her head hit the pillow. Maybe she could close her eyes for a little while….

* * *

She was woken up by a sharp poke to her cheek. Actually, it was more like repeated pokes to her face. Luz groggily swatted at King, since her brother had a tendency to do that, all the  _ freaking _ time _.  _

“Leave her alone, mijo.” A voice chided, and the poking stopped. “Ay, she is not going to like this.”

“ _ I  _ don’t like it.” Her brother muttered. “This ‘Hal’ person seems to use his power for evil.” There was a pause. “Can I-?”

“No.” Her mother cut off, as Luz struggled to wake up. “King, we have talked about threatening to use lethal force on people.”

King blew a raspberry, just as Luz cracked an eye open to glare at him. “What's going on?”

She slowly sat up, looking around the room with squinted eyes. The first thing she noticed was that it was dark, like, almost midnight dark. The second thing she noticed was that her mother and King were sitting by the foot of her bed, her Mamí looking upset and King looking like he was going to shank someone.

Seeing how her mom was holding one of said shanks… yeah, she needed to talk to King about cooling down on his murderous tendencies. 

“Mija,” her mother sighed, as she rubbed her forehead. “You know I love your creativity, but,” she made a very annoyed huff. “Your teachers see it as disruptive.” She held a hand to stop Luz from saying something. “Now, I know that you try not to be like that, but today, you did bring a taxidermy raccoon.”

“Hope you managed to bring that back,” King muttered, folding his arms and glaring at her mom. “Took us way too long to make.”

“The point is,” her mother said looking slightly uncomfortable about what she was about to say next, “I tried to argue against it but,”

Why was there an ice cube sliding its way down Luz’s throat?

“And Principal Hal did make a few good points. Mija, why didn’t you tell me you were being picked on? I could have done  _ something _ , mija...”

Forget it sliding down her throat, now the ice was logged in her stomach.

“It's just that, you don’t have any friends, besides King, of course. And I figured, maybe, a summer away from him could help you open up?” Her mother coughed uncomfortably at the look of utter distaste from King, not at her, but at a pamphlet, he had tightly clenched in his fist. From what Luz could see, there was an image of a smiling boy inside a box, giving a thumbs up to the reader.

“Just three months, carino, you could do with some time apart, let you grow up a little.”

There was one thought going through Luz Noceda’s head as she slumped backwards onto her pillow, King immediately rushing to comfort her.  _ Goodbye to an awesome summer of anime marathons, horror movie binges, and Grimoire editing, hello, Hell. _


End file.
